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SOCIAL VENTURES

Maternova acquires Impact Review

MATERNOVA, the Providence startup founded by Meg Wirth to help maternal health products get into the developing world more quickly and easily, has acquired Impact Review, which has created product review software for such products.

PROVIDENCE – Maternova Inc., a women-owned startup focused on solutions for dealing with maternal mortality, has acquired Impact Review, the company announced Monday.

Incorporated in 2010 out of Stanford Business School, Impact Review is a review portal focusing on lifesaving products for use in developing countries.

The company’s content is largely user-driven and its platform, which will be incorporated in Maternova’s existing interactive platform, includes an “intuitive product rating system.”

“In the U.S. before we spend $20 on a meal there are countless reviews telling you how you should spend your money. But in the developing world, there is no review system to review products that are a matter of life or death,” Nupur Srivastava, president of Impact Review, said in a statement.

Impact Review has a “product user rating system that allows for user-generated content where people who were clinicians in the field and were connected to a particular project or cause could provide good, credible reviews,” according to Allyson E. Cote, Maternova vice president.

Cote told Providence Business News that the Impact Review system will tie into a number of Maternova platforms, including the company’s Innovation Index, which tracks products through the inception phase to market.

“[Maternova] has seen pretty explosive growth in 2012. We’ve gained a huge amount of traction in the market and we’re very excited to see what’s to come,” added Cote.

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